(and then swim, bike, and Tri)

Post navigation

2nd Sprint Triathlon Completed

It’s been weeks since I’ve posted anything, mostly because I wasn’t doing anything but routine training for my 2nd sprint tri. This was my first open water swim (in a lake and not the ocean, thank goodness) and advertised as 300 yards. Seemed like a good way to continue to ease into an olympic distance triathlon.

It was held at a nice planned community in our area, with the swim going around a large pier and pavilion, the 11.5 mile bike route being on an “open” course (meaning cars on the road – they try to only let area residents onto the road, but…) with almost all rolling hills (some pretty steep), and the 2.85 mile run going mostly around the lake and neighborhood with only one moderate, long, climb. Bad news was, the community is planned so most houses have good sight lines of the lake. This equals almost no shade!

And, the night before the race, due to construction issues in the area, the swim portion got modified to almost 500 yards. Oh yeah, we’re going to almost double the swim distance, you just got more water for your money! But the run got shortened when the swim got longer, and ended up just 2.85 miles, which turned out ok because my run ended up being poop.

Anywho, it was 75 degrees at the start with 78% humidity, bright and sunny. It ended up at 79 degrees, with very little shade for the run. I did 11:14 on the swim, 40:52 on the bike (17.09mph), and 30:36 on the run (10:35 pace) for a total time of 1:24:57. I need to work more on my running, coming off the bike, because I was gassed and just couldn’t get going. I blame the hills and my (fast for me) speed on the bike, because my heart rate was 10-15 bpm higher than normal, starting the run.

Every race is a chance to learn how to do the next race better, and I got some good takeaways from this one. First is I’m going to have to learn to do flip turns. Without the wall every 25 yards, I struggle getting my breathing in rhythm, and I’ve realized it’s because I take a good deep breath on the wall every time, that I don’t get it open water. My wife said “what if you practiced for a 5k by running sprints up and down a basketball court, but never 3 continuous miles?”

Second is to listen to my body more on the bike – push it, but don’t overwork it. And practice a LOT more bricks, because that’s what it takes to be successful. I’ve been working towards an October half marathon, and while adding distance to my long runs, I neglected my brick work.

So I leave everyone with this photo, which I want to remember as I head in to winter training in a couple months.

Blogs I Follow

Books I’m Reading

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed here are my own unless otherwise noted. This is my blog, and has no relation to my employer. It also has no relation to medical, health, fitness, or training advice. It's just my thoughts.

Your mileage may vary when using anything posted here - there is no warranty or guarantee implied. Being opinions, you may agree, disagree, or choose to ignore them...as I may choose to block your comments.